If You're Thinking of Living in: New Rochelle

By MARY McALEER VIZARD

Published: January 17, 1993

THE picture window of the Rosens' living room commands a sweeping view of Long Island Sound. To one side is open water, to the other, the wooded peninsula of Premium Point in Larchmont and its million-dollar homes.

In 1950, Phil Rosen, a builder, and his wife, Rita, bought almost an acre of waterfront property for $7,500. They built a four-bedroom contemporary with open spaces and large windows that make it seem more a beach house than a primary residence. The property is said to be worth about $900,000.

"Over the years we thought about moving someplace else and we looked at different waterfront properties," Mrs. Rosen said, "but we could never find a view this magnificent."

This neighborhood is not usually the first thing to come to mind when people think of New Rochelle, whose reputation as an urban area with all the attendant problems often belies the fact that it is also a shore town with nine miles of waterfront and well-tended neighborhoods of comfortable houses.

The area's original inhabitants were the Siwanoy Indians of the Algonquin tribe. A section of the city is called Wykagyl, a shortening of the name for the Indians who lived just west of the city. In the late 1600's a group of French Huguenots settled there, naming the town after the French port of La Rochelle.

One of the oldest houses in the city once belonged to Thomas Paine, the Revolutionary War pamphleteer. It is now a museum in a two-acre park owned by the Huguenot and Historical Association.

In the early 1800's, New Rochelle became a popular resort for people fleeing New York City's sweltering summers. By 1849, when the New York and New Haven Railroad opened a station there, its transformation to suburbia had begun.

Today it has many faces, from affluent waterfront enclaves to tree-lined streets of more moderately priced colonials, Tudors and ranches to co-op apartment buildings near the downtown. It is still possible to buy a house there for under $200,000. Betsy Sutton, an agent with Anthony F. Sutton Realty, recently sold a five-bedroom stucco colonial with two baths for $175,000.

"Houses are very rare in that price range, but they are out there," she said.

More typical, though, is the experience of Kelly and Eugene Young. When they started looking for a house, they didn't think of New Rochelle.

"We had looked at 120 houses in places like Chappaqua and Larchmont before we saw an ad for this house," said Mr. Young, a television producer for ABC news.

The Youngs wanted an older home with more than two bathrooms, Mr. Young said, and "the moment my wife saw this house, she said, 'This is it.' " The house, a 1931 Norman Tudor with a backyard that abuts a nature preserve, was listed at $365,000, but since it needed work they got it last February for $277,000.

The neighborhood, Mrs. Young said, has "a real mix of people, which is the kind of environment we want for our child," a year-old daughter.

Real estate agents say the city is less homogeneous than most Westchester municipalites. According to the 1990 census, the population is 76 percent white and 18 percent black (out of both percentages, 11 percent list themselves as Hispanic). There is also a sprinkling of Asians and other nationalities.+

"I had one family move from a million-dollar house in Larchmont because they wanted a more diverse population," said Patricia Lampl, a sales associate with Wykagyl/Rittenberg Realty. "So we sold them a million-dollar house here."

Brokers say the best buys in town now are co-ops and condominiums. Most co-ops range from $55,000 for a small one-bedroom to $140,000 for a two-bedroom with parking and a pool; condominiums typically cost from $70,000 for a one-bedroom to $160,000 for a two-bedroom.

IN recent years, the city's reputation has been tarnished somewhat by its deteriorating downtown. Largely abandoned by shoppers in favor of malls and shopping centers on the city's outskirts, its Main Street has been left with empty storefronts and quiet streets.

Timothy Iodoni, the new Mayor, feels this can be remedied. The brightest possibility is that Unicef, the international children's agency, will move its headquarters and 2,000 employees from New York City. New Rochelle is now negotiating with it and a decision is expected next month.

As an incentive, the city has proposed, in a joint venture with the Starrett Housing Corporation, to build a 575,000-square-foot office building and 360 units of market-rate rental housing to accommodate the agency and its employees.

Last month, the city was also asked to come up with a development plan for three other United Nations agencies. "If it all comes to pass, it will turn New Rochelle into a truly international center," Mr. Iodoni said.

Another project being discussed involves Home Depot, the home-improvement chain, and a 13-acre parcel where it would build a 115,000-square-foot store. The city owns an additional 14 acres near the site and is talking to developers about creating a retail center there. "We've already gotten some interest from tenants such as Bradlees, Price Club and CVS," said Alan B. Schuman, deputy commissioner of development.

ONCE there were three movie theaters; now there are none, and the city is studying ways to draw people back downtown.

"We've got to get people living down there," said Development Commissioner Joseph Madonna.

The city is also considering grouping businesses together and turning downtown into a discount outlet center or a multi-cultural district with ethnic shops and restaurants or an entertainment center, according to Mr. Schuman.

There already are several popular restaurants, such as Del Ponte's for Italian food and Brett's for continental cuisine.

Since August, there has been a downtown facade improvement program in which the city pays half the cost of refurbishing storefronts.

Shopping was dealt a heavy blow with the closing of Macy's in the New Rochelle Mall last August. The nearest department store now is 10 minutes away in the Vernon Hills shopping center in Eastchester. There are many shops, however, especially along Main Street and North Avenue and in the New Rochelle Mall.

Last March, the City Council rejected a developer's proposal for a $1 billion residential colony on the 78-acre Davids Island. Mr. Madonna said the city was now looking for another developer.

New Rochelle has over 40 houses of worship, including the Trinity-St. Paul's Espiscopal Church, originally a French Calvinist congregation. The church's history dates to 1710, but its present building was put up in 1862.

The public school district is extensive, with seven elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school. In addition, there are five Roman Catholic grammar schools and three high schools and three private colleges: Iona College, the College of New Rochelle and Monroe Business Institute.

The public schools offer a broad-based curriculum, from pre-k to 12th grade, for a total of 8,100 students, with a teacher-to-pupil ratio of 1 to 15.

The high school offers college preparatory as well as business and vocational education. Advanced placement courses are offered in 14 subjects, including physics, chemistry and Latin. The high school has its own television station, planetrium and olympic-size swimming pool.

For sports enthusiasts, the city has an abundance of recreational opportunites, including 30 parks with numerous athletic fields and a total of 32 tennis courts. Three of the parks are on the waterfront. The municipal marina has 400 slips and 300 moorings.

In the winter there is ice skating on Paine Lake, Beechmont Lake, Twin Lakes and Carpenters Pond. The Five Islands Park, on Echo Bay archipelago, has a 300-seat outdoor amphitheater and park pavillion for outdoor concerts.

Photos: Boats wintering in part of New Rochelle harbor; a house on Paine Road. (Eddie Hausner for The New York Times) Chart: "Gazetteer" Population: 67,265 (1990 census). Area: 10.4 square miles. Median household income: $43,482 (1990 census). Codes: Area, 914; ZIP, 10801, 10802, 10804 and 10805. Median price of one-family house: $298,000. Tax on median-priced house: $5,500. Median price of two-bedroom condominium: $160,000. Median price of two-bedroom co-op: $110,000. Public school expenditure per pupil: $10,080. Distance from midtown Manhattan: 16 miles. Rush-hour commutation to midtown: 34 minutes on Metro-North New Haven Line. $5.25 one-way, $114 monthly. Government: Mayor (Timothy Iodoni, Democrat) and four City Council members, elected to four-year terms. Swing Time: In the early 1930's the Glen Island Casino in Glen Island Park became a mecca for the Swing Generation. It was during his first engagement there in 1939 that Glenn Miller recorded one of his most memorable sides, "In the Mood." The county-owned Casino has been renovated and is now rented out for weddings and banquets. It is also open as a restaurant on Saturday evenings. Map of New Rochelle.